Humour in Coronation Street
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Humour has featured predominately in Coronation Street since the programme's inception on December 9, 1960. Though interspersed regularly throughout its storyline, a number of characters in particular have been the 'comic relief'.
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[edit] Mavis Riley
The notoriously prissy, reserved and plain Mavis Riley had two suitors throwing themselves at her, whilst she could not make up her mind between them, saying her catchphrase, "Oooh, I don't really know". When she finally decides to pick one, she ends up being named as the 'other woman' in a divorce case. When she finally agreed to marry Derek Wilton, both failed to turn up at the church where hundreds of their friends were waiting.
When Derek was offered a company car by his new stationery-manufacturing company, it turned out to be a lime green car with the company logo on the side and a large plastic paper clip on top.
Their garden was filled with kitsch decorations, only to have someone "kidnap" their garden gnome and send letters demanding payment of a ransom. They then received photographs of their kidnapped gnome photographed at several famous world monuments.
[edit] Reg Holdsworth
Reg Holdsworth was a comic creation from the early 1990s, who was rapidly balding and tried to look more virile by getting an appalling toupée, which he thought would "draw the ladies". This backfired when Reg was accused of being a flasher (Reg's toupee made him look suspiciously like the real culprit).
[edit] Les Battersby
In 2002, one storyline involved the notoriously homophobic loudmouth Les Battersby (whose wife has left him) taking in a male lodger, only to be informed by the local Council that in taking in a lodger he has broken his tenancy agreement and would have to move. To hold on, he and his teenage lodger chose to pose as a gay couple, filling the house with the contents they imagined a gay couple's home might include. His estranged wife Janice (Vicky Entwistle), worried that he might lose his house, returns to pose as his happily married wife. She walks in on a house turned into a shrine to Judy Garland and Liberace, to be asked by the Council official "was it when your husband 'came out' that the marriage broke up?" She blew her husband's totally unconvincing scam by erupting into laughter. "Les. Gay? LES? Les is not gay. Les?"
A storyline in 2005 saw Les marrying Cilla Brown. With a stolen church, fake priest, borrowed wedding dress and a stolen wedding cake, Cilla with curls in her hair, which seemingly bore the symbol 666 and an overly-tanned body, many of the street's residents attended the sham wedding. At the ceremony, the real vicar returned early, and the rushed vows resulted in best man, bride, groom, bridesmaids, and others packing hurriedly into a stretch limo. Status Quo played at the reception, but the party was ruined:
- Status Quo ate all of the party food
- The wedding cake that was stolen from Diggory's Bakery turned out to be an iced cardboard display model
- Les destroyed the wedding presents (the main reason for the marriage in the first place) as he enacted what he believed Status Quo do in their dressing rooms.
- The parody comments at Les and Cilla's wedding reception about Status Quo (What about Status Anxiety or Quo-simodo?)
[edit] The "Red Rec"
Another storyline involved efforts by locals to stop Council plans to turn an open space (the "Red Rec", red indicating the amount of blood spilt there during a battle in the English Civil War, according to the storyline) into a housing development and stadium complex. The normally reserved Emily Bishop, spurred on by her environmentalist nephew, Spider Nugent (Martin Hancock), staged a sit-in up a tree alongside other youthful environmentalists, aided by local "conscience" Ken Barlow (William Roache) and local history expert Roy Cropper (David Neilson).
[edit] Fred Elliott
In recent years a running gag has developed on the show involving Fred Elliott (John Savident)'s tendency to propose marriage to any lady that he gets involved with, usually under the most bizarre circumstances and having disastrous consequences for Fred. This long-running gag began in 1996 when Fred proposed to Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox), who turned him down. Since then Fred has proposed to:
- Maureen Holdsworth (former wife of Reg), who actually married him only to leave him ten days later for Bill Webster
- Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls), whom he proposed to while in France, only to have her turn him down
- Eve Sykes, who also married him, only to turn out to be a bigamist
- Doreen Heavey, the mother of Fred's daughter-in-law Maxine Peacock, whom Fred proposed to while they were both drunk
- Penny King, who was having an affair with Fred's best friend Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs).
- Beverley Unwin (Susie Blake), mother of bar manager Shelley Unwin, was proposed to by Fred on 20 February 2006 after he rescued Bev who was abandoned in a country lane by her boyfriend, but died on the day of the ceremony before it could be carried out.
A storyline from May 2004 saw Fred order a bride from Thailand through an acquaintance, only to learn that she was a con artist. Stacy, Fred's Thai bride returned in February 2006 involving a storyline where she ran away from a man she had also conned. Fred helped her, but soon told her to never contact him again.
